studiobeerhorst is making connections

Reel to Real

I have been interested in getting an old reel to reel tape recorder and seeing what creative doors it could open for my musical journey. I really like the idea of circling back to technology that has become obsolete and forgotten. I'm not sure why. Perhaps it has something to do with a romantic draw to what is old. Maybe it has to do with a desire to throw hooks into the past that can keep the present connected to what preceded it and those provide depth and perspective. Maybe I just miss some of the things that where around when I was younger.

The development of magnetic tape and its ability to record sound changed everything for our culture. There was a time when music was only performed live and when the string stopped vibrating and the mouth was closed the music was gone, done, over. With electronic recordings we were given the option to have music playing while we washed the dishes, while we laid in bed trying to go to sleep. I suppose popes and kings had these options but not the rest of us. I wonder what it was like when in early times without radio,without TV and without sound recordings. Were there more people making their own music and entertainment? Was music more pure somehow? Were peoples lives more potent, more "real" somehow? It makes me wonder if we have dulled our senses by always having some form of entertainment filling up our otherwise more empty spaces.

Last night we had a band rehearsal and worked on just one song. The song is called "Broken Dreams" We played the song over and over with different tempos and different arrangements looking for what sounded the best and also to just see where the song wanted to go. It felt like hard work to me. Making music,making sound, creating a story, a puzzle, going off on a journey. All of these were happening last night and there is no recording of what we played except for in our brains and our hearts.